Hidalgo County Sheriff, Constable Precinct 1 and Constable Precinct 4 | License plate readers
Hidalgo County has been buying plate readers since at least 2017, on a standing sole source declaration, on state contracts and through a purchasing cooperative. No county record says how many there are or how long a read is kept.
At a glance
- Who operates them
- The Hidalgo County Sheriff's Office, and Constable Precincts 1 and 4 under their own Operation Stonegarden grants [1] [5] [8] [9]
- How many
- Not stated in any county record. The Court approved ten readers in June 2019 and seven in March 2020, an unstated number of SkyCop towers on a standing sole source from 2017, and an unstated number of Flock Safety readers in 2024 [1] [3] [4] [6] [10]
- What the county has spent
- $246,465.00 of SkyCop equipment authorized in 2019, $137,050.68 for ten readers in 2019, $45,288.00 for Vigilant Solutions software in 2019, $137,026.00 for seven readers in 2020 and $261,450.00 for Flock Safety readers, cameras and a license in 2024 [2] [3] [4] [6] [10]
- How they were bought
- A standing sole source declaration for SkyCop, state Department of Information Resources contracts DIR-TSO-4073 and DIR-TSO-4101, and the Omnia Partners cooperative contract 23-6692-03. None of these routes requires a bid notice describing the equipment in public [1] [2] [3] [4] [6] [10]
- Where they are
- Not stated. In 2025 the Court approved permission to install readers in Texas Department of Transportation right of way and in county right of way, but no record lists a location [11] [12] [13]
- How long a read is kept
- Not stated in any county record. The Sheriff signed the state database user agreement covering data retention in 2019; the agreement itself is not in the county record [5]
- Who can search the data
- The Sheriff's 2019 user agreement gives access to the Texas Automated License Plate Reader database, which the item says is so data "may be shared among all participating local, state, and federal agencies" [5]
How it happened
- Procurement
A standing sole source for SkyCop
The Court approves a sole source declaration for SCI Technologies, Inc. doing business as SkyCop, for a SkyCop Mobile Surveillance Unit for every county office, commencing with the Sheriff's Office, to remain in effect unless the Court revokes it. [1]
- Deployment
The towers are plate readers
A cellular data item buys two unlimited data lines for "sky cop license plate reader towers" at $40.00 per device. It is the county's own description of what the towers do. [7]
- Procurement
Vigilant Solutions software
A twelve month agreement for the hosting and management of Vigilant Enterprise System plate reader software for the Sheriff's Office, $45,288.00, bought on a state contract. [4]
- Procurement
Ten readers, more SkyCop, and the state database
In one meeting the Court restates the SkyCop sole source and authorizes up to $246,465.00 under it, buys ten plate reader systems for $137,050.68 on a state contract, and approves the Sheriff signing the state plate reader database user agreement. [2] [3] [5]
- Procurement
Seven more readers
Seven plate reader systems for the Sheriff's Office from Motorola on state contract DIR-TSO-4101, $137,026.00. [6]
- Decision
A constable writes a policy because the grant asks for one
Constable Precinct 1 enters a plate reader user agreement with the Department of Public Safety and adopts an automated plate recognition policy, both required by the Operation Stonegarden grant. Precinct 4 does the same in October. [8] [9]
- Procurement
Flock Safety
Flock Safety plate readers, cameras and a license agreement for $261,450.00, bought through the Omnia Partners cooperative from a reseller. Approved unanimously. [10]
- Decision
Readers in the right of way
After a March agreement with the state highway department and a May resolution covering county road right of way, the Court approves a supplemental agreement with TxDOT for the installation and operation of plate reader cameras in state right of way. [11] [12] [13]
Hidalgo County’s plate readers did not arrive in one decision. They arrived as a standing permission and then a series of purchases under it, alongside three other buying routes, over nine years.
The standing permission
In March 2017 the Commissioners Court approved a sole source declaration for SCI Technologies, Inc., trading as SkyCop, covering the purchase of a SkyCop Mobile Surveillance Unit for every elected office, department, program and agency in Hidalgo County, starting with the Sheriff’s Office. The declaration was to remain in effect unless the Court revoked it.
A sole source declaration is a finding that competition is precluded, in this case under section 262.024(a)(7)(A) of the Texas Local Government Code, which covers items protected by patents, copyrights or secret processes. Once the Court makes that finding, later purchases from that vendor need no bid. In June 2019 the Court restated the declaration and authorized a purchase under the original 2017 finding, not to exceed $246,465.00.
The SkyCop units are towers, and the county’s own records say what is on them. In May 2018 the Court approved two unlimited cellular data lines for “sky cop license plate reader towers” at $40.00 per device. Two months earlier it had bought a line for a “sky cop license reader tower”, and in October 2019 three more lines for Sky Cop. The county maintains them under a service contract: in 2021 it awarded two vendors the “Service & Repair of Sky-Towers and/or Sky-Cops” and in 2023 renewed both.
The readers bought on state contracts
In March 2019 the Court approved a twelve month agreement with Vigilant Solutions, LLC for the hosting and management of Vigilant Enterprise System plate reader software for the Sheriff’s Office, with supporting equipment, connections, training and installation, for $45,288.00. It was bought from a reseller under state contract DIR-TSO-4073.
In June 2019 the Court bought ten plate reader commercial data systems from the same reseller under the same state contract, for $137,050.68, with a maintenance fee of $375.00 per camera per year. In March 2020 it bought seven more plate reader systems from Motorola under state contract DIR-TSO-4101, for $137,026.00.
In the same June 2019 meeting, the Court approved the Sheriff signing the Texas Department of Public Safety’s plate reader user agreement, covering use of the readers and data retention, to gain access to the state plate reader database. The item says the purpose is that data “may be shared among all participating local, state, and federal agencies”.
Flock Safety
In November 2024 the Court approved the purchase of Flock Safety license plate readers, cameras and a license agreement for $261,450.00, through the county’s membership in the Omnia Partners purchasing cooperative, contract 23-6692-03, from a reseller. The vote was unanimous. The item does not say how many readers, or where they go.
Volunteers have mapped 265 plate readers in Hidalgo County, most of them recorded as Flock Safety. That count is a community record of what people have seen, not a county record of what the county owns, and the two cannot be added together.
The policies, and who wrote them
The two plate reader policies in this county’s record belong to Constables, not to the county. In July 2022 Constable Precinct 1 entered a user agreement with the Department of Public Safety and adopted an automated plate recognition departmental policy. The item says both were required by the granting agency. Constable Precinct 4 did the same in October 2022, in the same words.
A grant condition is why those two policies exist. No county-wide plate reader policy appears anywhere in the Commissioners Court’s agendas and minutes from 2012 to 2026.
The right of way
In 2025 the county turned to where the readers stand. In March the Court approved a memorandum of understanding with the Texas Department of Transportation for permission to install readers in state right of way. In May it took up the same permission for county road right of way, and the County Executive Officer corrected the item on the record: it was a resolution, not a memorandum of understanding. In July it approved a supplemental agreement to the Multiple Use Agreement with TxDOT for the installation and operation of plate reader cameras in state right of way.
Each passed unanimously. None of the three names a road, an intersection or a count.
What the record does not say
How many plate readers Hidalgo County operates. Where any of them are. How long a read is kept. Who inside the county may run a search, and what a search has to be for. Whether anyone audits the searches. Whether the Flock cameras bought in 2024 share data with other Flock customers, which is a setting the buyer chooses.
Those are records questions, and they are in this county’s open questions.
What we do not know
- How many plate readers Hidalgo County operates, and where each one stands.
- How long a plate read is kept, and what happens to it at the end of that period.
- Who inside the county may run a plate search, what a search has to be for, and whether anyone audits them.
- Whether the county has a plate reader policy of its own, beyond the two the Constables adopted because a grant required it.
- Whether the Flock Safety cameras bought in 2024 share their reads with other agencies outside Hidalgo County.
- How many SkyCop towers the county owns, and how many of them read plates.
What you can do
Show up
Systems like this one are approved by boards, councils and committees that meet in public. We have confirmed where each of them meets in Hidalgo County and how public comment works there.
How to show up in Hidalgo County →Protect yourself
Practical steps to shrink your personal data trail. Our guides publish at launch; until then, EFF's Surveillance Self-Defense is the best starting point.
Surveillance Self-Defense →Sources
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- 3. Hidalgo County Commissioners Court, minutes, 6 June 2019, item AI-70539, ten plate reader commercial data systems · Meeting record · · accessed
- 4. Hidalgo County Commissioners Court, minutes, 26 March 2019, Sheriff's Office item, Vigilant Solutions agreement · Meeting record · · accessed
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- 6. Hidalgo County Commissioners Court, minutes, 24 March 2020, item AI-74813, seven plate reader systems · Meeting record · · accessed
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- 12. Hidalgo County Commissioners Court, minutes, 13 May 2025, item AI-99396, plate readers in county right of way · Meeting record · · accessed
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